Thursday, January 31, 2013

The interwebz has been buzzing pretty loud regarding the PS4/Orbis specs, the tech leaks and the dev kits specs.
And just yesterday Sony released the following video...

Is Sony trying to beat the leaks and steal back the buzz? I believe the answer is a resounding yes! The teaser doesn't show anything definitive but there are some illusions that might be abstract close ups of different angles of the PS4 mixed in with the 3D Triangles, circles, squares and X's. and from the bits I think I spotted it looks alot like the above fan rendering!
February is gonna be an exciting month, if they do announce the PS4 on the 20th, I'm betting we'll see some PS4 game trailers come E32013 and maybe a holiday 2013 launch. And I really believe Sony realizes they need to deliver this generation and be truly competitive with their pricing against Microsoft.
Some other things Sony needs to do to make the PS4 succeed is backwards compatibility with the PS3, continue PSN integration, if the PSN is strictly for the PS3 that is a huge mistake, it would make all the DLC/games/ music/ movies etc that we bought via the PS Store obsolete and that would make ALOT of unhappy gamers!
Simply continue the momentum the PlayStation brand has right now, with brilliant exclusives, an enormous library of games and I think Sony's next gen console has a good chance at taking back the title #1 console on the market!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Hey you yeah you with the DS3/Xbox/ Wii controller in your hands! You lurv video games right?
Well take that Raymor & Flanigan furniture and BURN IT!!!
Show your friends just how hard core you are with furniture that compliments your passion!

My all time favorite Anime Series is once again being threatened by Hollywood!
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross is a timeless story of a giant interstellar battle fortress that crashes on South Ataria Island in the South Pacific in the year 1999. For the next decade humanity attempts to unite under the formation of U.N. government and rebuild the ship. During the ships inauguration in 2009 Hikaru Ichjiyo comes to the celebration in his little civilian aircraft at his best friend Roy Fockers' request. During the celebration Earth is attacked by an Alien race know as the Zentradi, Hikaru rescues Lynn Minmay, a young Japanese girl who works at her aunts Chinese restaurant during the assault.
In a desperate attempt to save the Earth The Captain of the Macross orders the crew to activate the ships untested fold system to the moon, and divert the attackers attention away from Earth.
Things don't go as planned and the when the Macross exits the fold they find they're on the edge of the solar system and due to their proximity to the surface of the Earth they have brought South Ataria Island with them into the icy void of space! The civilians are rescued and brought aboard the Macross...they're new home. During the fold Hikaru and Minmay were also caught in the field and now Hikaru must pilot his small aircraft into the huge Macross before all his oxygen seeps out of his plane. These are the events that set the stage for the most amazing Space Opera I have ever seen, and in my opinion eclipses the Star Wars Trilogy.
As a child I did not get to enjoy this amazing show, I got Harmony Gold's Robotech...a mediocre English dub of the above show cut and paste with two other completely unrelated anime series to create a similar yet unfaithful trilogy. The first act is basically SDFM with some alterations to make the second and third acts make some sense.
It wasn't till many years later when I bought Macross Plus at Suncoast Video (I miss that store!) that I did a little research and discovered I had been bamboozled! I found macross world and found out just how far the rabbit hole went with the legal war between Big West and Harmony Gold.

So the news that Warner Brothers has found a director for the Live Action adaptation of robotech has made me very sad, because I know it is gonna be a Michael Bay style bastardization of a mediocre retelling of an amazing AMAZING Sci Fi Love Story set against the back drop of war in Space against an Alien race.
And every time I hear about this movie Tobey Maguire's name is in the story, so I have to assume he is a fan of Robotech and I can only pray that he knows about Super Dimensional Fortress Macross!

Friday, January 11, 2013

I was born in 1973, my first exposure to video games was in the Greenwich Boys club, there was an Atari 2600 and I vaguely remember playing either pong or tank against some other kid....I had no idea how to play but I learned very quickly that I didn't like loosing so next time I tried harder and almost beat the person I was playing. No one like to loose be it Little League where you're parents are cheering you on while you're at bat, or in school during a spelling bee, or at gym in a relay race.

From a very early age we are groomed to strive to win from our parents, teachers, coaches and there's nothing wrong with that, I'm a parent now and I want my son to be successful and win just like every other parent out there.
Getting back to me....So as mentioned above I've been playing video games since 1981. I grew up in the 80's which means Rambo, Rocky, GI Joe, Transformers, Voltron, The Beasty Boys, Predator, Terminator, Beasty Boys, MTV, I went to a camp on an Island where we had Archery and Riflery ( can't imagine that happening in today's day and age), TMNT, Lazer Tag.
In 1982 my Godfather (God bless his soul) bought me a Atari 5200 which was my very first video game console....all my friends had the inferior 2600 mwuhahaha....little did I know that dreadnought of a console was Atari's Titanic in the console business.....

We spent hours in front of his parents trinitron TV playing Super Mario Bros. and thus my love affair with video games was reborn! The following Christmas I got my own NES and my addiction grew I must've visited my local Toy's R Us on a weekly basis, my library of NES games grew at a geometric rate over the years.
As the 80's came to a close the rumors of new consoles from Nintendo and Sega spread, the arcade scene in the US was slowly dying. But in 1991 a game came out that changed the industry, Street Fighter II The World Warriors not only breathed life back into the US arcade scene and delayed the inevitable but also ushered in a new degree of "multi player competitive" gaming that is still going strong today!

The end of 1991 ushered in the second console war (CWII) between the SNES and the Sega Genesis. The 16 bit era saw an explosion of consoles from other companies that saw the video game industry wasn't gonna fade away as a fad like so many things from the 80's, video games also saw the transition from cartridges to CD's with the larger storage space came more freedom for game developers to create the games they dreamed of.

Games also began to mature with those of us who have been playing them since the days of Pac Man, Centipede, Donkey Kong and Dig Dug. No longer were we playing to get the high score by ourselves, we were now competing against others to win in a fight, a race or to survive longer than the person next to you in a shooting game.
The 90's saw an influx of games that portrayed much more realistic violence, fighting games evolved as did shooting games.....Time Killers, Splatter House, House of the Dead, and Mortal Kombat. These games also got the attention of politicians and in 1994 the ESRB was created.

So here we are 19 years later, at the end of the 7th generation of games consoles PS3, Xbox360 & Wii and with the the advancement of technology video games games are no longer considered a hobby for kids and anti socialites, the video game industry has grown into a recognized form of entertainment with billion dollar franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Pokemon, etc. These games have budgets that rival the film industry. They offer unique experiences that you cannot get from going to the movies, no longer do you have to sit and just watch the hero save the world from annihilation from alien/terrorist threats, now you are the hero! YOU make the choices, YOU fight the good fight, You have the opportunity to experience things you could never in your real 9-5 life get to.

I have played each of the above games, they all contain violence to some varying degree, I have been playing video games since 1981, and the majority have had violent aspects and mature themes . On a scale from casual gamer (1) (farmville) to Hardcore Gamer (10) (sponsored player by MadCatz at EVO) I'd probably land around a 6 or 7. I've shot BB guns and given archery a whirl when I was in camp, I watch violent movies, listen to music with expletives, and have friends who own guns.
I also have a son, 2 jobs and happily married for almost a decade.
I get frustrated and angry, curse, and carry on from time to time, but I also realize life ain't easy and I am responsible for not only myself but my family.
I would be willing to bet 98% of people who play video games are just like me.
So when I read that the vice president of the ECA is sending a letter to VP Joe Biden pleading for him to not blame the horrific events in Newtown elementary school on Video Games it frustrates me that politicians, for as long as I can remember have point point the finger at Video Games and before that Movies and before that Comic Books and before that Rock and Roll.....Jesus wake up Washington! there are hundreds of influences around us on a daily basis that mold our behavior, our thoughts, our outlook on life and YOU single out ONE thing! I wish it were that simple but we all know it isn't, and then add in mental illness and the equation just becomes geometrically more complicated!!!
So in conclusion, if politicians believe video games are responsible for these horrific acts then I should definitely be on some "person's of interest" report.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Capcom has just put out a new trailer for Remember Me, showcasing some of the games fighting mechanics...c'mon it's a Capcom game..
I'm actually very interested in this new IP, the environment is fresh and I really like the blend of old architecture and the Blade Runner inspired futuristic metropolis.
Kid Xmas....really? That's the best name they could come up with? Harkens back to the names used in Final Fight games.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Transformers Prime Season 3 is looking amazing! We get Shockwave and his greatest creation yet....Autobot hunter extraordinare Predaking!
Also it's all but confirmed the Dinobots will be arriving this season also. Now I wonder if Grimlock will command the Autobots in Primes absence...."me Grimlock kick but"

Thursday, January 3, 2013

This is gonna be a great year to be an owner of a PS3! 4 of my 13 titles are Playstation Exclusives! Two of my choices were left overs from my 2012 wishlist.

#1
My number one choice is probably not gonna come out this year anyways but after playing MGS Peace Walker HD last year I'm craving to see the inception of the Les Enfants Terribles Projectand the birth of Solid Snake!For any fan of the Metal Gear Saga this is a must have!

#2
Naughty Dog's The Last of Us looks simply amazing and totally truthful about how humans will loose their humaity if some sort of apolalytic viral strain turns us into monsters....notice I avoided saying zombies, yes they are the monster D'jour these days but I can't confirm we are dealing with zombies in the last of us yet...

#3
I bought a ticket for the GTAIV hype train....it was a short ride. I really despised the main Character Nico Belic and his annoying as fuck cousin, the MP was fun but at the time it didn't compare to CoD MW's MP system.
After playing RDR & LA Noir I feel confident that GTA V will be a much more enjoyable game both SP & MP....fingers crossed.
#7 last year....#3 this year! Look at what a good trailer can do for your game! Oh dam the hype train is leaving the station I gotta run TTFN!

#4
I've always been a sucker for games with a fresh art design (Valkyria Chronicals/Chrono Cross), Ni No Kuni looks gorgeous and with visuals by Studio Gibli this PS exclusive looks like it will not only floor us with amazing visuals but a very endearing story also.
Maybe Squeenix should play Ni No Kuni and remember what made them an amazing game company.....

#5
I opted out of the CoD FPS craze after MW2, but Aliens Colonial Marines looks to drag me back. I've already got this on preorder and will be wearing my P1nk4cidB00t5 Feb 12th!
The last Aliens FPS I played was Akklaim's Alien Trilogy on the PSX

#6
Last year Lara was at #8 now that I've seen a bit more of the game Tomb Raider gets bumped up to the 6 spot. Interestingly I did predict some aspects of the game long before they were revealed....weapon crafting/leveling up.
And it's just revealed the game will have MP....UGHH!
NOT EVERY FRANCHISE NEEDS MULTIPLAYER!!!
You hear me Kratos?

#7
Ahh the eternal question is there anything after we die?
Looks Like Quantic Dream is going to tackle that in Beyond Two Souls.
And the visuals for the game in particular Jodie Holmes is beyond this generation's standard....see what I did there...
The PS3 has definitely provided a more mature, and by that I mean intelligent library of titles recently than it's competition....Journey, Flower, Black Swan, Heavy Rain to name a few.

#8
OMG a new IP by Capcom....this is Madness!
No this is Neo Paris!
I like the environment and the premise behind the game, altering aspects of a persons memories to change the present. It feels a little similar to GitS and that is a good thing!

#9
I Finally got a chance to play the Sly Cooper games last year and they are just really fun games and Sly Cooper is yet another fantastic character in Sony's many franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet, Solid Snake, Kratos.
I would turn to Sly and the gang when ever i would have a bad run in SSFIVAE2012 on line just to calm my nerves and laugh a little.

#10
I enjoyed the first Lords of Shadow and anyone who saw the epilogue we knew this game was coming.
I wonder how the continuity will be rewritten in this installment, Will we see Trevor Belmont a younger Simon Belmont. How will Alucard fit in this new history?

"I love the last two entries, but again, hoping they upgrade the gameplay in addition to the game environment. This version of the Bioshock franchise takes place in a flying city, which... is actually a huge departure from the previous two games, which took place in an underwater city. So... is Bioshock still Bioshock without the claustrophobia? We'll see!"

#12

Most super hero games suck, they're usually just a movie premiere tie in, but this game looks all types of fun and wrong at the same time!

#13
Crazy Isaac is back!
I loved the first Dead Space....fantastic addition to the survival horror franchise, aven't played the sequel yet so....I'll get around to part 3 eventually.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Growing up near NYC the Times Square News Years celebration has become routine and kinda dull. And for many New Yorkers we avoid Times Square like the plaque on NYE...My wife and I actually went to Hunter Mtn. on the millennium NYE celebration.
So this year some of my family came over to our place to watch Dick Clark's Ryan Seacrest's New Rocking Eve with Jenny McCarthy and Fergie....it was the same thing as last year and the year before and the year before that...

So here's what we got in NYC to celebrate the new year....

And here is what Dubai got to experience....

I hope Macy's is paying attention....

Happy New Year to the Whole World, I hope 2013 brings us closer to Peace on Earth....doubt it though :/